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The People and History Behind Upeksha

CRAIG CHANDLER

Director of Engineering 

Craig grew up on a farm in the deep south of New Zealand with a passion to explore and invent things. As a child, he built his own hand gliders (never worked), wakeboards, and skateboards. He also spent endless hours fixing go-karts, motorcycles and cars. 

 

It wasn't a surprise that he ended up working as an engineer. Since 2000, he worked overseas for oil and gas companies (what a terrible thing) and his main hobby has been kiteboarding. From the start, he developed his own kite bars and made adjustments and improvements to any kiting equipment he bought.

 

In 2016, during the oil and gas downturn, he was overjoyed to finally have the excuse to take the opportunity to live full time at the beach in Paknampran, Thailand. In his free time, while not kiting or sleeping, he started making his own kiteboards - learning together with other interested kiter friends living nearby. First he became interested in making the boards specifically for jumping high. Next, his interest turned to making optimum boards for downwind slalom racing, however both boards share similar qualities being controllable at high speed.

 

Due to his inclination to be obsessive, he started buying proper equipment for his hobby. Finally realising he wanted to turn his passion into a business (he also realized he never wants to go back into oil and gas). So, he took the plunge to make his dream happen. Upeksha boards were born. The rest is not history, it’s future.

 

Craig Chandler Upeksha Designer

KHUN RIN

Office Manager

Khun Rin is perhaps the most balanced, upbeat, kind, and wise of the team.  She brings her knowledge of company management, building, and accounting to the group. She's always keen and enthusiastic to learn new things. 

Phairin, Upeksha team member
Kamol Upeksha Kiteboarding engineer

KHUN KAMOL

Chief Engineer

Khun Kamol is the backbone for practical engineering. His building background and calm demeanour are much appreciated.

KHUN SIRI

Support Specialist

Khun Siri helps out with the website and other odd jobs. She is most at ease and happy when training people to bring mindfulness into their sport and life.

Siri Chandler, Upeksha Kiteboarding
Gumphon kiteboarding upeksha art

KHUN GUM

Art Director

Khun Gum's background is in graphic design. His gift of cool artistic creativity along with an extensive experience in kiting enable him to come up with innovative ideas for the company. His skill in being detailed is highly valued by the team.

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